When it all falls apart
by Dark K. Sly
Summary: It would be great to say it happened gradually, that it occurred slowly, and that, one day, Stiles woke up and realized he didn't have the same friends anymore, but that's not how it happened, because this was real life and things never happen in simple ways in real life.
1. Chapter One

**So… one more for you, guys! I hope you enjoy it! This is a future!fic, but the first two parts are basically setting for the rest of it.**

**Hope you like it!**

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**When it all falls apart**

**Chapter One**

It would be great to say it happened gradually, that it occurred slowly, and that, one day, Stiles woke up and realized he didn't have the same friends anymore, but that's not how it happened, because this was real life and things never happen in simple ways in real life.

It happened suddenly, fast and achingly bitter, in a way he wasn't expecting, and yet he was – he had always been.

It happened because Scott told Derek they should join forces to take out the Alpha pack and left him out of it. It happened when he realized, alone at home, late at night, that he wasn't a part of Scott's pack. If he was, he would have known their plans, he would have been able to warn his father to stay away from any calls of disturbance near the woods. It happened because he wasn't informed enough, and his dad was hurt because of it.

It happened because his best friend didn't trust – or maybe didn't need – him now that he knew he had Isaac on his side, that he had Allison back from her psychotic ways.

And he wasn't free from the blame, he knew it as well as Scott did, because he didn't think Allison was all that great anymore, and yes, he thought Scott was actually dumb for getting back together with her. And Scott had read it all wrong, and thought Stiles was jealous – and he was! But not of Allison, of _Isaac_, his new wolfy friend.

He just thought that Allison would end up killing Scott, but, apparently, he didn't have a voice when it came to Allison, and their fight was awful, and Scott said awful things, and Stiles said awful things, and they… fell apart. They fell apart in a way Stiles didn't know was possible, because Scott was his _best friend_, he'd die for him, almost did a number of times, but when it came down to it, Scott would always put everyone before Stiles and he was sick and tired of it.

And he was tired of all the small ways Scott made clear for him that _he wasn't pack_.

He was tired of the disappointed looks he got from his dad, and the way the man seemed to be always waiting for something awful to happen to him. He was tired of having no backup, no one to turn to and be the one his best friend only remembered when he needed something.

He was tired.

And the Alpha mess was the last drop of it, because his dad had gotten hurt, and Scott wanted him to lie, and he'd do it, of course he'd do it, but just because he didn't want his dad to lose his sanity completely, and not because Scott was asking, because Scott, apparently, couldn't care less about his dad.

That's when the fight started, in the corridor of the hospital, with his dad asleep a few feet away. He called Scott a shitty friend for not wanting his back up, and told him he was stupid for getting back together with Allison, and for trusting her, and for believing Isaac, and for forgetting about him. And Scott said he was only human, and he couldn't fight, he was a nuisance in a fight, he wasn't help.

He was weak.

And that was it, the end of their friendship in a hospital corridor, at three in the morning, when the Sheriff had broken his left arm after being thrown against a tree by some animal he couldn't identify.

Stiles had had enough, and he wouldn't apologize to Scott until he did it first.

The thing is Scott never did it.

And that was the end of it.

His father is back home the very next day, and Stiles tries to act normally around him while he's still on painkillers. His dad knows Stiles lied to him about why Scott was the one who found him in the woods, and Stiles knows he knows, but this is it – Stiles has had it, and Scott could have apologized but didn't, and Stiles just wants this whole… mess to be _over_.

He gets into his dad's room late at night again, after spending the whole day trying to think of ways to do this. He decides that blunt honesty is the best way to go, seeing as the lying road is pretty much what is destroying the once amazing relationship he had with his dad.

He sits on the man's bed and looks down, sighing. His dad muted the TV he had been staring at, and stares at Stiles instead, his face telling the boy his father is expecting another barrel of lies to come out of his mouth.

Well, not today.

"I've been lying to you. These last few months. You know it, and I know you know it, and I think it was amazing of you not to despair of me more than you did, and I am really, really, really sorry. There's not enough sorry in the world to excuse what I did, and I know that."

He takes a breath and looks at his dad to see him staring back, a bit hopeful.

Not all is lost.

"I can't tell you what's been going on, most of all because it's not _my_ secret to tell" He stares at his dad, and sees the man is looking disappointed again, as if he's having his heart crushed by his son one more time, "But I can promise you it's over. It's… over. It's done. I'm done with all of that, and I'm done with Scott's messes, and I'm done with trying to help. I'm… done" he finishes, fighting a few tears that are threatening to fall. He looks up, into his father's eyes before speaking again, "No more lying. Not anymore."

His dad doesn't say anything, and that is a sign that it'll take time for him to believe Stiles, but it's a start. He sighs, and pulls his son in for a hug, and Stiles' arms tighten around his dad.

He's done.

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**Part one, and I'll be posting Part two tomorrow.**

**Let me know what you think of all this!**

**REVIEW!**


	2. Chapter Two

**Loads of information in this chapter, but I have ten years to cover, so bear with me – it won't be this rushed in the actual plot.**

**I hope you guys enjoy it!**

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**When it all falls apart**

**Chapter Two**

Stiles is prepared to spend the rest of his summer completely alone. After the whole Alpha fiasco, there's still about a month of summer holidays left, and he knows Scott is too offended to apologize, and if he's honest with himself, he doesn't really want him to. Scott apologizing would mean Stiles would have to forgive him and then break his heart – he's done, he doesn't want to be the sidekick in his own life, he doesn't want to put Scott first, he wants to be the main character of his own storyline, and that means he really needs to stay away from Scott.

Which means he has to stay away from everybody else because they're all a big happy pack all over again – or that's what he thinks until the night Jackson Whittemore knocks on his door. Stiles is really confused when he sees Jackson there, and the blond looks just as uncomfortable, but Stiles invites him in, and the boy is polite to his dad, and asks to talk to Stiles in private.

"If this is about your little gang with Hale, I'm out. I'm having nothing to do with it anymore" Stiles says firmly, and he can sense more than see his dad looking at him a bit proudly.

"No" Jackson says, sounding not exactly humble, but at least not as much of a jerk, "Quite the opposite, actually" he finishes, and Stiles frowns at him before inviting him to his room.

Turns out that, unsurprisingly, Jackson isn't good in a pack environment. Scott, apparently, had finally bowed his head to Derek, and after being rescued, Erica and Boyd were a part of Derek's pack again – that made Derek's pack a big one, what with five betas and a human, because where Scott goes, Allison goes, even if Stiles thinks they're all stupid, the girl tried to kill them all, but okay, not his business – but Jackson doesn't know how to play in a large group of people.

It had never been his plan to be a pawn to Derek, anyway – his aim at being a werewolf was always to be a lone wolf, but his experience with Derek's pack, however short, had made him see that being an Omega wasn't good.

"I just want to know how Scott did it" he says, after letting Stiles know he's left the Hale pack, "How he managed to still be a Beta, or at least not go Omega, without an Alpha, or a pack."

Stiles stares at Jackson, and he thinks about it for a bit, because he doesn't know what helping Jackson will entail. He doesn't want to be the one Derek comes after when Jackson kills everyone in town in a fit of rage for going rogue, and at the same time, he thinks there's something more to it than Jackson not knowing how to play in a team. When he voices his suspicions to Jackson the blond gets this tight set of his jaw, as if it pains him to be talking to Stiles, but he stares Stiles down and admits that, yes, there is.

There's Lydia, and there's the fact that Peter Hale is still very much a part of Derek's pack, and that through him, Lydia would be pack too, and she can't take it.

So he's leaving, at risk of being alone and weak, so that she won't have to suffer.

He actually says he's put her through too much already, and that's what makes Stiles decide to try and help him, within reason, because it's Lydia, and even if he knows he'll never have a chance with her, he wants her to be happy.

That's how much of a sap he is.

"Scott had me. And Allison" he says simply, shrugging a bit, "We were there for him, I guess, and that made us a makeshift pack for him, while it lasted. He was never Omega because he had a pack, even if the rest of it were human-only."

Jackson is pensive after this, and he stares at Stiles speculatively for a few seconds.

"Do you think Lydia and Danny would be enough?" he asks, and Stiles shrugs again.

"I really don't know. I just remember it was something Derek said once."

Jackson nods, and he looks like he wants to ask or say something else, but he doesn't. He does say _thank you_, looking as if that'll haunt him forever, and it makes Stiles smile a little bit.

"You'll be fine" Stiles ends up saying, when they are at the door, "Lydia is probably worth more than all of the people in their little gang" he jokes, and Jackson snorts.

"Not _your_ little gang anymore either" Jackson says rather than asks, and Stiles just shakes his head, remembering Scott telling him he didn't need him anymore.

"I don't think I ever was" he replies, and Jackson nods at him again, leaving in his shiny Porsche.

He's got the girl, the car and the super powers, and Stiles's got… nothing.

When his dad passes by him, heading to the kitchen, and squeezes his shoulder for a moment, though, Stiles smiles. Not really nothing if he can have his relationship with his dad back.

The next day his dad is back at work and Stiles fully expects to spend the whole day by himself, completely alone, and that's fine. He should get used to it, anyway. He plans on sleeping in, having something ridiculously unhealthy for lunch, and play Assassin's Creed till his dad gets back for dinner, and that's it.

No big plans, no running around the woods, no trying to get that idiot's friendship back, because he's done with the lying thing. He has to be.

That's why he's honestly surprised when at about three in the afternoon the doorbell rings, and when he answers, there's Lydia Martin. He stares at her, open mouthed, and she sighs irritably, throwing her long hair over her shoulder.

"Aren't you going to invite me in?"

"Sure! I'm sorry, come in!" he says, his voice fast and confused, because what the hell was she doing here? "Do you want anything to drink? Soda, water, coffee, tea?" he offers and she smiles a bit at him, the same smile she had when she looked for him before the whole Kanima disaster, when she thought Jackson was dead, almost two months ago.

"Just water is fine" she answers, shrugging, and then she follows him to the kitchen, sitting on one of the chairs. Stiles hands her a glass with iced water, and takes one for himself, sitting too.

"Jackson told me he was here yesterday, talking to you about his whole… abandoning the Hale pack thing" he just nods, waiting for her to say what she wants to say, "Do you really think he'll be fine without a pack?"

She looks a bit insecure, and Stiles has to try really hard to define if she's really feeling that, or if she's using that look because she knows it'll get to him.

He can't quite decide.

"As far as I can tell, all he needs is an anchor. You're it. You were enough to make him turn into the werewolf he was supposed to be, it'll certainly be enough for him to have an anchor when the full moon comes. I'd recommend it for you to be away, and him locked up, but I think you guys will be fine. If it looks like it's not working, just tell him Scott did it – that'll make him want to be better than Scott."

Lydia laughs a little at that, and Stiles smiles back, feeling a bit of the ache from the past few days ease away from him. He's feeling awful, and every time he tries to think about what happened he feels _wrong_.

He hates being like this with Scott, and yet he knows he can't go back to the way things were.

It hurts too much, hearing you're not needed.

"Something happened to you, Stiles" Lydia says and he shrugs in answer, not quite knowing what to say to that.

It was the truth, but what could he say? It's not like she was his friend for him to spill his guts for her, was it?

"Don't you want to talk about it?" she offers, and her tone is not annoyed or impatient, it's actually kind.

"Why would you want to hear it?" he asks a bit suspiciously, but he has a right to be, and she looks at him, her head tilted to the side a bit.

"You were willing to listen to me when no one else was. I'm willing to do the same. That's what friends do, right?"

Stiles can't decide if he's happy or miserable about it, because he gets to be her friend, and maybe he won't be so alone anymore, but at the same time she's also making it clear that they're friends, and will never be anything else – not that he hadn't got _that_ memo with the whole love saving Jackson thing.

"I got into a fight with Scott, because he didn't tell me about his plans with Derek for the Alpha pack thing" he says carefully, and Lydia nods.

"What else? You wouldn't be this upset if that was it."

He looks away for a moment, trying to gather his thoughts, because he himself is having a hard time _getting_ what the big deal was.

"Mainly it was because my dad got hurt. If he had told me, I would have found a way to keep him out of it, to keep him safe. And by not doing that, Scott was indirectly responsible for my dad getting hurt" he takes a deep breath, and Lydia waits, he looks down at the table, picking on the small droplets of water on his glass, "But it's… it's more than that. It's how he never thinks about anything else other than himself and Allison. Actually, it's how he _got back together_ with Allison. And I don't know if you know this, but she tried to kill Derek, seriously kill him" he looks at Lydia again, "Her grandfather tortured me. That's why I was that bruised in the night we thought Jackson was dead. Actually, _he_ was the one who ordered Jackson to gut himself in the middle of the field. And she was helping. Scott can't see past his love for Allison, but she hurt so many people. And then there's Isaac there too, and they're hanging out, and Scott just… forgot about me. And my dad…" he takes a deep breath before continuing, and Lydia actually put her hand over his on the table top, "Ever since my mom died, we had this really nice relationship. Of course we both screwed up, but not as much, and not as badly, as it could have been. I took care of him, and his health, and he put up with me, and being around Scott and that lot, it was making me lose it. My dad wouldn't be able to take the lies for much longer, and I was tired of it" he looks at her, his eyes wet, but he refuses to actually cry in front of Lydia, "He also told me he doesn't need me anymore. That I'm useless in a fight. So I guess the whole thing was just the straw that broke the camel's back, you know?"

Lydia stares at him for a moment, before snorting delicately, and shaking her head.

"You just want to be normal again, don't you?"

He stares at her and is about to agree with it, but then he thinks about, really thinks about it, and shakes his head.

"No, that's not really it. I'm a hyperactive kid, who no one really likes all that much. I'm not sure I could ever _be_ what people call normal, and that's not it, that's not the problem. I just want to… belong. Somewhere. _I_ want to belong. And I thought Scott was my friend, and that I belonged with him and his pack, but I'm not pack. I'm not a part of it, and Scott is the one who made it so. I want to be me, and I want to be the one who matters in my own life. I'm… I'm tired of being a shadow."

When he finishes speaking, Lydia is staring at him with something aching to pity, but it's gone on a second, and she nods at him, as if coming to a decision.

"I understand" she says simply, and he doesn't think she truly does, he can't remember a time when Lydia wasn't the star of the school, but he also knows there's more to her than pretty looks, so he doesn't say anything else.

She leaves soon after that, and Stiles is once again convinced he's going to spend the rest of the summer alone.

That changes when the next morning his dad is banging on his door, at eight am, telling him his friends are waiting for him. Stiles thinks about asking him to tell Scott he doesn't want to see him, but decides against it, he should fight his own battles.

When he gets to the door, Jackson and Danny are there, waiting for him, dressed up in lacrosse practice uniforms.

"If you want to keep up whatever it is you did at the last game, you need to practice more" Jackson says as a way of greeting, and Danny actually smiles at his incredulous face, "Danny tells me you kicked some ass at the final game, but I'm not buying that until I see it with my own eyes. So come on, we're training" he finishes, shouldering past him into the house, and sitting in the couch, "We're wasting time, Stilinski, grab your stuff and let's go."

Maybe it was the shock, but Stiles actually went, put on his uniform, brushed his teeth, grabbed a protein bar as a makeshift breakfast and left with Jackson and Danny to the field.

He doesn't question why or how they're doing this, and when Lydia shows up at about eleven am to oversee their practice, and waves at him, smiling, he knows she's the one behind this.

He wants to say he doesn't need pity-friendships, and that he doesn't want to be the new sidekick for Jackson's wolf instead of Scott's, but Jackson doesn't use his powers to play, and Danny doesn't know anything about it, and Lydia is really nice, and Jackson turns out to actually possess a sense of humor, even if it's mostly at the expense of someone else.

Stiles actually enjoys his day, grabbing lunch with the other three at a diner, and then going home, with Jackson's promise – or maybe threat – of picking him up the next day, at the same time.

He likes it, this spending time out of the house thing, and the next day he's ready when they come for him, and Lydia comes to the field at about the same time again. Danny is nice and friendly, and Stiles is really trying to focus on getting better and Jackson and Danny actually help him out a lot – he's not that bad when someone points out his mistakes for him so that he can correct them. They fall into a routine, and Stiles is glad. The first few times Lydia and Jackson kiss around him he gets this tight knot in his gut, but it eases when he starts to see that Lydia is an amazing friend. He loves her still, but it's changing, and he's happy about it.

His dad tries to be discreet about it, but he always asks where Stiles is going, and once or twice he sees his dad's car passing by the school field, as if to check he's really there, and he guesses he deserves it. But it starts to get easier between them, because Stiles is actually out of trouble, and he genuinely likes Danny and Lydia, and even Jackson, even if that takes a lot of time to get used to.

About three weeks into their last month of holidays he and Danny trade exasperated looks every time Lydia and Jackson start their make out session, and when the full moon comes, he holds a sleep over – with Lydia and Danny at his place.

Jackson is at home, alone, and he texts them all night long, sometimes talking to Lydia just to hear her voice. It's hard, but it isn't harder than sitting by Scott's door, listening to him describe his kiss with the girl he was in love with.

They survive, and there's not a body count, so they count it as a win.

He kind of realizes, a few days later, that they're a sort of a pack again – but these people actually care about _themselves_ first. They just want to make it through high school, date and have fun. They have their problems, and their traumas, but they're actually _good people_, and everything is so much easier with them.

Stiles finally sees he's actually happy around them – happier than he can remember being around Scott for the last _year_.

A few days after their first full moon, Jackson tells him Derek showed up at his place, asking him to come back to the pack. Knowing Derek, Stiles bets there was a lot of growling and threats involved, but Jackson denied him. He's got an anchor, and he's got friends to keep him sane enough he won't go rogue, and there's nothing Derek can do about it to make him change his mind.

It's only when Jackson hangs up that Stiles realizes Jackson included him in his friends.

And it feels really good, even if losing Scott sucks.

He doesn't see Scott, which is really weird. He doesn't see Erica, Boyd, Isaac or Allison either, and one day, when they're at the mall – Danny and Jackson at some music store, him and Lydia walking though the dress section at Macy's, because he has no problem with helping her shop -, he asks her about Allison, and Lydia looks down for a bit, before shrugging.

"I think what happened between me and Allison is pretty much what happened with you and Scott, only way less intense, because we weren't friends for that long. I know I'm not a role model for adjustment, but her relationship with Scott is just not healthy, and I got tired of never having a friend when I needed to, and always having to be there when she needed."

Sties snorts at that, because hell if he doesn't know what she's talking about, and she looks at him with her eyes narrow.

"What do you think of Danny?"

Stiles is a bit lost with her question, because what's that got to do with anything? but he shrugs as an answer.

"I think he's pretty awesome."

She just smiles, and Stiles feels a little afraid of whatever is coming.

What is coming is a party given by some guy from school, that a few months back he'd never get invited to. He runs it by his dad, and gets a green light to attend – his dad's trust is actually coming back – and it's only when Danny comes by his door to pick him up that he realizes Lydia is trying to set them up.

He's offended for about two seconds until he realizes _Danny_ is willing to pick him up, and Danny is not a push over, he'd never do something like this if he didn't want to, not even with Lydia bullying him.

They have a great time at the party, and Danny is cute and funny, and Stiles tries not to be a total spazz, and they get along just fine. The whole crowd of people in the party eyes him a little confusedly, because since when does Stilinski hang out with the likes of Lydia Martin and Jackson Whittemore, but it's okay because Danny gives them the stinky eye and they look away.

When Danny takes him home, with ten minutes to spare in his one o'clock curfew, Stiles looks at him and kisses his cheek, feeling girly and stupid, but Danny smiles at him when he pulls away, and draws him closer, kissing him on the lips softly. Stiles forgets to close his eyes, but Danny smiles at him.

"It's okay if you don't want to" the older boy says to him, smiling all the time, gentle and caring, "We can still be friends" his hands are on Stiles's waist, and Stiles leans against him a bit more, shaking his head.

"That's not it, I just… I never…"

"Kissed a guy?" Danny asks, and Stiles smiles at him.

"More like never kissed anyone. Unless you count getting kissed by Tara Noble on sixth grade on a dare as a kiss."

He's still smiling, though, because he knows Danny won't judge him, and the other boy doesn't disappoint him, leaning closer for another kiss.

"Guess we'll have to practice this too, then" Danny says against his lips kissing him again. Still small and gentle, but with a promise of a lot more.

He leaves, and Stiles gets in with a huge smile on his face to find his dad staring at him, eyebrow raised.

"You didn't tell me this was a date" he says, and Stiles shrugs, smiling sheepishly at him.

"To be honest, neither did I. Lydia set us up, and I didn't know" he explains, and his dad shakes his head, "Is it okay, though? I mean, it's Danny, so…"

His dad smiles at him and says it is okay, as long as he doesn't start sneaking around or doing anything illegal, and only part of it is a joke. Those months back will haunt their relationship for years to come, but Stiles is decided to make his dad proud.

They still practice Lacrosse in the morning, and grab lunch together a few times a week, but now his afternoons are full of Danny, and with Danny come kisses and hot make out sessions, and he just loves it. Sometimes they go out with Jackson and Lydia, and sometimes they stay on their own – they play video games and eat junk food, and they make out in Danny's room and on his couch when his dad has the night shift, and the Sheriff starts to smile at him again like he used to, before he got his dad temporarily fired and nothing he told him was the truth.

Summer ends, and Stiles is dreading going back to school, because seeing Scott will be unavoidable then. It's just because Danny will be there, and Lydia and Jackson, that he doesn't fall apart, and when the first day of school comes around, he's glad Danny offered to pick him up instead of having him drive there by himself.

It happens sooner than he realized it would, because they are just getting out of Danny's car and Scott and Allison are passing by, hand in hand. Scott looks at him with a face like he's got a belly ache, and Stiles looks away. Danny smiles at him reassuringly, and takes his hand, pulling him to the other side of the lot, where Jackson and Lydia are just arriving. They greet their friends, and Lydia gives them a kiss on the cheek, and Stiles doesn't look back – he doesn't have to look back to know the whole pack is coming into the school together.

It doesn't take long to spread along the gossip mill that Stiles and Scott's epic friendship is over, and that he now hangs out with Jackson, and Lydia and Danny. It also doesn't escape anyone's notice that he and Danny are together, and they are okay with that.

Things are _normal_, and he's fine. He's happy.

When the first Lacrosse practice of the year rolls around, Stiles gets self-conscious while changing, because he can feel Danny's eyes on him all the time, and he smiles at his boyfriend – and what a strange concept that is – before going out in the field. He asks to try for first line, and the coach lets him do it – partly because he remembers how he played at the final, and partly because he truly needs someone, as Scott's grade were so bad last year he can't come back to the team right away. He gets the position by the skin of his teeth, and he's so excited he jumps Danny when he comes to congratulate him, and kisses him in the middle of the field.

There are a few catcalls, and Jackson's shout of _gross_, but he doesn't care – he has a gorgeous boyfriend, he's friends with Lydia, he's first line in the Lacrosse team, and he hasn't been about to die in more than a month.

Things are looking up.

When they are leaving the field, Isaac congratulates him on his being first line, and he thanks the guy, but doesn't talk to him more than that. Scott doesn't even look his way, glancing at Danny and Jackson with betrayal in his eyes, and Stiles can't quite decide if he's feeling betrayed by him or by Jackson for having abandoned their pack.

Probably both.

Scott doesn't come back to the Lacrosse team, and they hardly ever see each other.

They keep their distance, and things at school settle down. It's clear that there are two groups where for a few weeks last year there had been one, and the rumors are wild – people saying Stiles was actually with Scott, and they broke up because of Allison, and that's why they aren't talking. Some people saying that Allison wanted to be with Lydia, and when she didn't want her, they fought.

Everything was absurd and ridiculous, and not even close to the truth, but it was okay.

Things settle down after a few weeks, and everyone is happy enough. Sometimes the Hale pack comes to school with bags under their eyes, and there are definitely weird things going on – the first time someone shows up dead, Stiles' father is obviously taking it as a trial for his son. But Stiles doesn't go out, he calls Lydia and Jackson and Danny, and sets up a movie marathon, and the boys manage to convince Lydia to watch something other than The Notebook, and when his dad comes home at almost four in the morning, he finds his son asleep on top of his boyfriend in the living room, with their friends asleep on top of each other on the other couch.

He smiles, turns off the TV and covers the teenagers with blankets before going to bed.

They don't get involved with pack stuff, and sometimes Scott looks at Stiles as if he wants to ask for help, but they never do. They don't approach Jackson either, which is good, because things sometimes get shaky with him, and he still has problems with his parents, and he has enough to deal with without being a part of Derek Manpain Hale's pack.

The school year flies by, and Stiles manages to get great grades, because not having to worry about his life on the line does great things to his academic performance. He's not the star of the Lacrosse team, but he's one of the good ones, and plays first line all year long. They win finals, and Jackson throws a huge party to celebrate it – the same night he can celebrate losing his virginity to his boyfriend, because Danny's parents are out for the weekend, and they can be alone.

Summer passes by fast, in a blur of training, a few outings with his friends, spending time with his dad, and actually going away for a week to Jackson's parents' beach house with him, Lydia and Danny.

Senior year comes, and Stiles and Lydia start freaking out to the amusement of their respective boyfriends, because they don't know where they want to go, even if they want to be near each other. Lydia finally decided on MIT, and that kind of makes up all of their minds, because they just want to be near – Danny goes for Computer Science in MIT with Lydia, and Jackson goes for Pre-Law in Brandeis with Stiles, where the last pursues a degree in teaching.

They work their butts off, and they don't even seem to notice when the other pack in town misses school, or isn't around, or show up at school looking broken and beaten up. Stiles sees, but he refuses to be dragged in – things are good, and he's happy, and he has a place now, a pack.

They get into college in early admissions, and they _know_ a lot of the teachers gave them great recommendations, and, for the boys, their places in the Lacrosse team certainly didn't hurt.

Lydia is valedictorian, and the three boys are proud of her. They get medals for Academic and Sports Achievements, and even if misses his dad like never before, off they go to college.

They come home whenever is possible, and Jackson bugs Stiles until he accepts to use his frequent flier privileges, because he and his dad aren't really rolling in money. They are home for Thanksgiving, and Easter and Christmas and Summer Holidays, and they are doing great.

His dad starts dating this therapist in his first year at college, and they get married at the end of his fourth semester. Scott is at the wedding, and Melissa, but Stiles doesn't even try to make contact with them.

He and Danny are fine. They are more than fine, they are great – he's happier than he can ever remember being ever since his mom died, and he likes to think he makes Danny happy too.

Lydia and Jackson fight a lot, but they love each other, and the four of them are kind of decided not to go back to Beacon Hills after they graduate. They set up apartments in Portland, which is close enough they can visit frequently, but it's not their little town. Jackson and Lydia's place is a huge apartment, and Danny and Stiles share a loft. They have their jobs, and they are happy.

Things change, though.

Stiles would like to say it happened because this is his life, and nothing good ever lasts, but good things have actually lasted for him in the past eight years. He loves Danny quite a lot, and when the phone call comes, because he was listed as the emergency contact in his information, his whole body freezes.

Danny is dead.

In a car crash.

He can barely function for days after the thing happened. They fly back to Beacon Hills for the funeral, and the burial and the wake, and Danny's mom clings to Stiles like a lifeline. He hugs her back, and Danny's dad put his arms around them both, letting them cry.

That night, when he gets home, his dad's wife, Vanessa, pulls him in a hug, but it's only when he has his dad's arms around him that he lets it all go, sobbing like he hadn't done in a long, long while.

He decides to come back to Beacon Hills, because he can't be in that apartment without Danny, and Lydia and Jackson understand him better than anyone, and support his decision.

He finds himself a little apartment, just enough for him, rejects his dad's offer of living with him and Vanessa, because that'd be just weird, and tries to find a job.

His life is quiet for a whole year after that. Jackson and Lydia come home once a month, at least, and he talks to them a lot on the phone during that time. Danny's parents move away, but they keep in touch with Stiles, and he goes over to his dad's place for Friday night dinners and Sunday lunches. He avoids pretty much everyone who isn't family or Jackson and Lydia for a whole year.

When the school year begins, though, and he receives his newest class of five year olds to teach, he has a surprise.

Because on the roll call there's a little girl by the name of Laura Hale.

And his whole world is about to change because of it.

**X**

Derek has actually lost count of how many times Peter bemoans the fact that he bit Scott instead of Stiles. It started a little after his return from the dead, and continued over the years, until the time when Allison finally abandoned them – even if she was never really _theirs_ as much as Scott was _Allison's_ and everyone always knew that wouldn't end well.

When the Alpha pack showed up, Derek was still lost at the whole being an Alpha thing – he was never prepared for that, and he didn't know how to build a pack. Even being a sassy, sarcastic, annoying know-it-all, Peter actually helped him get through that, but Derek knew even before it happened that he'd lose Jackson because of his uncle's presence.

He never counted on losing Stiles as well, but that was on Scott, not him.

He never really understood what went on in the head of that boy, and all he could gather was that he had tunnel vision when it came to Allison, and Stiles had offended her somehow. However, if Derek could forgive her trying to _kill him_, why couldn't Scott forgive Stiles?

Later, months later, after a gruesome fight, when Scott is trying to hold back tears while stitching up Boyd, he confesses he made the whole thing worse on purpose. He wanted Stiles to hate him, because he was destroying his best friend's life. And it broke his heart to see him sad, but it broke it even more when he realized how _happy_ Stiles was with his new friends. He was safe and happy with Lydia and Danny and even Jackson, and Scott was suffering, but he'd do it for Stiles.

He'd do anything for his best friend, even drive him away from them.

From that night on, it became the Pack's unspoken rule they wouldn't involve any of the others in their fights and battles, they would protect them. As the years went by, Derek and his pack fought a lot of weird things, sometimes wolves, sometimes humans, sometimes things in between, but they never let it affect the other pack, as they thought of them, even if they didn't have an Alpha. They fought while the others played Lacrosse and won championships; and they had to keep it together, having rogue wolves to fight, while the other four kids that one day they looked at as pack were studying for their exams, and deciding to go to MIT and Brandeis together, and receiving medals for Academic and Sports Achievements.

It wasn't fair, but Derek felt as if his pack, his little band of misfits, was actually living vicariously through that other group, and he couldn't begrudge them that.

When the other pack graduated, they were popular, they were happy, and, most of all, they were safe.

It was more than what could be said for _his_ pack, but in a certain way Derek could tell his kids felt accomplished by the others' happiness. More than once they had to chase away something after Jackson that thought him weak for being a lone wolf. They had to protect Stiles' dad, and Stiles' himself, they had to protect Lydia for her immunity, and Danny for his association with the other three, but they managed it.

The other pack was happy, and safe, and popular, and clueless, and they let it happen.

The Hale pack didn't go far for college, and in those years they actually developed their own kind of happiness – being away from Stiles, Jackson, Lydia and Danny was good for them, because they were, for once, being happy for things they were doing themselves. Things were quieter now that Derek had finally made a name of his own as an Alpha, hunters didn't bother them as much, and creatures started to avoid Beacon Hills, because it was spoken for.

The second year in college for the teens was the first time Derek thought about dating, ever since the whole Kate Argent thing. She was older, dark skin and dark hair, gorgeous black eyes, a smile to die for, and he was kind of smitten so fast it wasn't even funny. She was a human from a werewolf family, one of the few who didn't carry the gene to be one, and she was a wild thing.

So wild that, when they found out that their carelessness had gotten her pregnant, two years after they started dating, she had thought of getting rid of the baby – she didn't when he said he'd like to have a child and she did it more because she felt she was doing the right thing.

She didn't want to be a mother though, so when Laura Hale was born, Nicole left, promising not to bother him again.

He felt lost with a small child in the pack, _his_ small child, and his pack had college, so he had to get the hang of things by himself, mostly.

It was by the time Nicole found out about her pregnancy that Peter decided to leave, to go away, maybe travel, and not stay in Beacon Hills. Derek was kind of glad, because he would never be able to manage to trust the man again, and with his kid there it wouldn't take long before he would have to either kill Peter or cast him out.

He heard from him once in a while, talking about packs on Alaska being much more fun than the ones on California, so, apparently, he was all set.

He finally took a final step and put the remnants of the old Hale house down, building something new in its place, bright and airy, with his child in mind.

Erica was the next one to leave, finding an Alpha who was passing by in a conference at her college, and, apparently, falling madly in love with him. She went away with Derek's blessing, and sent news every week, phone calls and e-mails, about how happy she was.

Nicole was on her last month when Allison left them, and even if all of them were kind of preparing for it for _years_ it still hurt like hell, mostly because of Scott, who had lost so much already. She had never been really okay again after the whole thing with her mother, and her dad could see it. He couldn't stay in Beacon Hills forever, and now that the Hales were back, he didn't have an excuse to stay. When push came to shove, Allison chose her family, and Scott knew he couldn't follow – he couldn't abandon his pack any more than Allison could abandon her dad, and that was the end for both of them.

On one hand, Derek was glad it was over – watching them was like watching a disaster taking its time to happen, as if you could see every single crack in the building before it collapsed completely. They loved each other, that much was clear, but love isn't always enough to make things _right_ with them.

He healed, little by little, graduated from college as a Veterinarian and helped Deaton in his business, gaining clientele and knowledge that went far beyond animal care.

Boyd was a broker, and he was doing really well at his job for someone so young, and Isaac had become a nurse, working at the hospital with Melissa as soon as he graduated.

And Derek… kind of became a stay at home dad, because his pack was formed only by young males, and he didn't trust anyone else to be near his kid.

Laura was two when they heard about Danny's accident, and Derek and Scott actually went to the burial, watching from afar. Stiles had become a man, Jackson and Lydia by his side, their arms around their friend as he cried. He had lost his mom and now his eight-year long boyfriend, and it wasn't easy.

Scott contemplated talking to him again, but Isaac made him look at it from Stiles' perspective, and that wouldn't be good. Even if they knew Scott did what he did to protect Stiles, and that now that things were good maybe they could be friends again, to Stiles Scott had abandoned him for a girl, endangered his father and left his friendship for Isaac's.

It didn't look good.

They saw Stiles around town soon after that, and gathered he'd be staying.

When Laura was three, Derek decided, and was advised by Melissa, more than anyone else, that she needed to see other children, and he enrolled her at school. On the day of their first meet and greet with the teacher, his heart skipped a beat.

Because her teacher was Stiles.

* * *

**So… what did you think?**

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	3. Chapter Three

**I had to do something I really don't like doing: I altered a little bit of the last chapter – Laura is three and not five. It's nothing major, just ten words, but I thought I should let you guys know. Also, despite her age, I won't attempt to do baby-speech in this. First because I have no idea how to, and second because I teach three year old kids who speak just fine – sure, they miss a few letters from time to time, but mostly correct all the way.**

* * *

**When it all falls apart**

**Chapter Three**

Stiles lies in bed the night before the parent-teacher meeting before the first day of classes thinking about how he's going to handle this – how is he going to face whoever Hale that child belongs to? Beacon Hills is small enough that the school office didn't seem to find it important for the teachers to have a full list of students, just their full names – the parents would introduce themselves on the parent-teacher meeting and that's it.

He had found it strange the year before when that had happened, because in Portland he worked in a sort of alternative, modern hipster school – it was hard to find a job teaching small kids if you're openly gay, and the ambience at that school was different than what Stiles found in Beacon Hills, even if here he got way less crap about being out and proud.

He wasn't even sure if he was really just gay or bisexual. He had been in love with Lydia, sure, but that was so long ago it seemed like a lifetime away. Danny had been… everything.

He had faced homophobic classmates at college, and gotten a lot of crap at some job interviews when he was asked about his home life, a wife or girlfriend as expected, but it had all been worth it, because it was _Danny_.

Now he didn't have Danny, and his job was pretty much all he had focused on for the past year. He was good at it, he was good with kids, and he was good at teaching, so he found that in Beacon Hills, where most people still remembered him from his Lacrosse playing days, with a buzz cut, a boyfriend and being the Sheriff's kid, being good at his job was actually enough for the parents to respect him.

You could say a lot of bad things about this town, but you could also say he had never lived in a more tolerant place, no matter how small it was.

He looked at the list again, feeling nervous about the meeting in the morning. He had a speech prepared, he'd outline what he planned to teach the kids and how, give his contact info to the parents and ask for theirs in return, ask for any specificities their kids had, if they had been taken to daycare previously, or if this was their first time away from their parents, just a few things to get to know his students before actually meeting them – the meeting was about the kids, not the parents, but _those parents there_, these ones of Laura Hale, it was bugging him.

Had Peter reproduced? Jesus Christ, he wouldn't have a child and then name her after the niece he had killed, would he? Had Derek had a kid? Who with, Erica? It seemed the only explainable option, because he couldn't actually picture Derek going out and _meeting_ someone.

This wasn't his life anymore, worrying about the Hales. He had left this behind almost ten years ago; he refused to be dragged back.

Sighing, he left the list of students on the nightstand and turned off the light. He should sleep to have a good meeting the next day.

His sleep was filled with strange dreams, full of Danny and werewolves and the woods around the Hale house, still charred and broken down, and a small kid with long blond hair like Erica's, running around the burnt down place.

He woke up at five, covered in sweat, and decided to take a shower and get ready, even if the meeting was scheduled for nine o'clock, simply because he couldn't sleep anymore.

One year, three months, seventeen days without Danny.

Lydia had called and told him, a few days earlier, that he should try to find someone, even if it wasn't serious, and he hadn't answered. When Jackson picked up the phone after she gave up on him, he had just said he understood him – they always thought they were _it_ for each other. Their friendship had had a strange beginning, but they loved each other, and for all those years they had been… _them_.

Four of them. They got through half their high school careers, all of college and Lydia's and Jackson's grad school, their first job interviews, their epic fights, their biggest hung-overs, their amazing parties, those days when they were feeling like crap, their insecurities, everything – together.

Now they were one person short – it was pretty much like losing a limb, a part of them they couldn't get back, a hole that couldn't be filled, no matter how much they tried. And he missed his friends. He couldn't stay in Portland, and he missed his dad too, coming to Beacon Hills was, perhaps, something they had planned on doing later on, when he and Danny were married, probably planning the adoption of their first kid, and Jackson and Lydia had enough money to buy out the town if they wanted to, when they were all twenty-eight, like they had planned so many times, late at night, half-jokingly and half-serious, all of them sharing a mattress in someone's dorm or apartment, watching crappy TV and eating junk food.

And now he was here much earlier, and completely alone.

One year, three months and seventeen days hadn't been enough for Stiles to deal with it, to let it go – not yet.

He knew Lydia was right, that he should try to get out more, meet some people, maybe even look for some of their friends – not _his_ old friends, but theirs, from their senior year.

He just couldn't bring himself to do it.

He had joked with Jackson that maybe he needed them to have a social life again.

Jackson had answered he'd start preparing for the move right away.

Stiles wasn't sure if he was kidding or not.

He got out of the shower, put some comfortable clothes, and set about making breakfast, eating before cleaning the whole kitchen, and getting ready to leave for school – sure he'd be there super early, but it was better than staying at home, twiddling his thumbs and dying of anxiety.

He got to his classroom, where the meeting would be held, at seven forty. Parents were supposed to arrive at nine.

He spent a good hour putting things in order – he had already hung all his new decorations, and had remembered to go by the bakery to bring some pastries for the meeting, the coffee in a big thermos the school provided him with. He put the brilliant, colorful paper cups he had brought from home on the table, set the pastries and cookies on the side, and put the chairs in a circle in the middle of the room.

The first couple arrived at fifteen to nine, followed by a mother, alone. They clearly had already met, talking animatedly about their kids to each other, and Stiles merely smiled and indicated the chairs for them.

At nine to ten, he heard steps on the corridor, and turned to look.

Derek Hale stood, dark, and tall and imposing, if a little less brooding, looking at him with an unreadable expression.

Stiles took a deep breath and smiled, nodding to a chair.

He was professional, he could deal with this.

**X**

"But why you have to go, daddy?" her eyes are full of tears, and it's not fake or something like that. She really doesn't understand why he has to leave, and Derek has to take a deep breath to strengthen himself, and look at both Scott and his mother so he will not to give up this whole pre-school thing.

"Because I need to meet your teacher, so I'll know you're in good hands, ok?" his voice is as soft as he can make it – and that's a lot, because in his first days as a single farther he learned that gruffy and growly around a newborn baby just didn't work in his favor.

She still looks as if she's going to cry, though, and Melissa decides to intervene, saving him the trouble, and taking Laura to the living room to watch cartoons with her and Scott.

Scott gives him a comforting pat on the shoulder, and Derek half smiles at him in thanks. It's not always that he can make someone help him with Laura, and he really needs to go to this meeting.

He feels bad when Scott wishes him luck with the teacher, because he hasn't told him the teacher is Stiles. Stiles is, and always will be, a sore point for Scott – his decisions back then were hasty even if he was trying to do what was right, and Derek knows it still pains him to have lost his friend so completely, and it has been _completely_. Stiles has been living in Beacon Hills for over a year, and he has managed not to get in touch with any of the pack. A feat, because the town is really small, but Derek guesses he's putting a lot of effort into it.

He's not really sure how to deal with this either – he's seen the name of the teacher in his info package, but it doesn't seem _real_.

He drives to the school and gets there with ten minutes to spare. He takes a deep breath and goes to where the sign points him to, brilliant signs made with glitter, pointing to the pre-school classroom.

The man that seems to hesitate for a second before smiling at him is not the same boy who left all those years ago.

Stiles is slightly taller and more well-built than he used to be – of course, he wouldn't be almost ten years older and still look like the kid who left Beacon Hills for Boston, but it's… disconcerting. His buzz cut is gone, and his hair is slightly longer, just enough that it needs to be styled in the morning. He still has the same aura he used to, as if there's not enough space for him and all of his expressions in his face, but he's… darker, somehow. Nothing evil or bad, just… sadder.

Broken.

And then he remembers that Stiles is living in Beacon Hills because his boyfriend died a little over a year ago, and it does make sense for Stiles to be like that – not that it is any of Derek's business because it isn't.

Derek sits on one of the uncomfortable chair he's pointed to and, fifteen minutes later, Stiles is closing his door and taking the only vacant chair in the room, smiling broadly at all the parents. He takes a minute to notice that, at least, he's not the only one without a partner beside him.

"Good morning!" Stiles says cheerfully, and most of the parents smile back at him, because he _does_ know how to make it sound cheerful and bright, as if the darkness Derek had seen earlier has disappeared by sheer force of will, "I'm Stiles Stilinski, even if you'll be hearing my name in slightly different ways for a few months. By the time your kids get to pronounce Mister Stilinski correctly they will be so used to whatever nickname they gave me I won't be Mister Stilinski anymore."

The parents laugh, and even Derek has to contain a smile, thinking about Laura struggling with the weird name of her new teacher.

"This meeting has the sole purpose of you getting to know me, and how I'll be teaching your kids for the next school year. There will be, of course, slight changes along the way, but most of the year lesson plans is solid, and planned for effective work. The changes will happen individually sometimes, if one of the children needs more time to get something, or less to understand another – we'll try to keep it at their pace, but not so distant that he or she won't be able to follow the class. Arts and crafts, along with the actual class and their play time will be monitored by me, while the music, physical education and language class will be handled by our workshop handlers, who are wonderful people. Most of our staff is native, and as Beacon Hills is so small, you may already know most of them" he pauses, looking at the parents, smiling again, "I know it's a lot of information, but this description part is mostly to acclimate you to what expect along the year – you'll be following your child's progress at the end of every class, through their class diary, and you can also feel free to call me, or talk to me at the beginning or end of every class, about any doubts, concerns or complaints you may have along the way" he pauses again, "Any questions?"

A few parents inquire about his qualifications and previous jobs, a specific couple laugh at him when they wish him luck with their kid, because their son is hyperactive, and the man used to be Stiles' teacher in Middle School, and they remember what a nightmare that was. Stiles offers them honest answers, Derek can tell, because of the steady beat of his heart, smiling all the time, even when one of the women seems to think he's too young for the job.

He makes a ten minute break, offering them coffee and pastries, before getting back in the circle.

"I would like to thank all of you for coming, and I hope we'll talk more along the school year. I'm sure these kids are all amazing, and will be great students. For the second part, I just need for the parents whose kids haven't yet been to daycares to stay, so we can talk about acclimatizing them."

Most of the parents leave at that, only Derek and three couples staying behind. Two of them are soon sent home, because while their kids didn't go to daycare daily, they had done learning activities out of home for a few months already, so they shouldn't be a problem.

The last couple asks to talk to Stiles privately about their kid, eyeing Derek suspiciously, and the man looks at him apologetically before nodding.

They talk for about ten minutes, and then they leave – it's only Stiles and Derek.

**X**

Well, he can definitely say now that it's Beacon Hills that gives him his crappy luck – in all those years living far from here he's never had one of these moments, as if someone is actually _planning_ to screw him over.

When the last couple leaves, he smiles a bit nervously at Derek, and then sits back on his chair, taking a sip of his now only slightly warm coffee.

"So, you're Laura's dad" he begins, smiling all the time, because this is a parent.

A parent who'll leave his child with him for five hours, five days a week. He needs to trust Stiles, and if Stiles remembers correctly, Derek would rather kill someone than offer them his trust.

He knows it first hand, after all.

"Yes" he answers curtly, and Stiles wants to sigh. Oh my god, almost ten years is not enough for the man to learn how to communicate properly apparently, "She's three, and she's… a bit sheltered" he finally continues, and Stiles wants to cry in relief that he's _talking_.

"She didn't go to daycare, right?" Derek just shakes his head, and Stiles nods at him, "Well, there shouldn't be any worries, a lot of kids don't go to daycare, especially in a small town, where one of the parents can afford to stay at home with the kid, it's pretty common. I'd like to offer you, though, the possibility of an acclimatizing week. You can come to school and stay around, maybe pick Laura up early. Your… Ahm, the other parent is welcome to come too" he almost said _wife,_ but then again, he's not going to assume anything.

For all he knows, Derek kidnapped the kid.

It's way more likely than going through the proper channels for having a kid, like meeting someone, dating them, sleeping together, having a kid.

"I'm a single parent."

Stiles nods at that, as if he's not completely shocked by it, and tries to keep calm, so that Derek won't pick anything up – Jackson is completely under control, but he's still a werewolf, and Stiles's learned a few things over the years.

"Well, then, you can come and stay around for a few days – the only thing I do not allow is for the parent to be _in_ the classroom, because it wouldn't be fair for any of the other children. If Laura gets distressed, or if she wants you near her, you'll be close by. How does that sound?" he asks cheerfully, staring at Derek.

The man lets out a breath, as if he's _worried sick_ about his kid alone at school, and almost smiles at Stiles.

"Thanks. I'll do that."

"Great! Any questions? Anything else you want to say?" Stiles is fully expecting him to say no, but then Derek seems to be steeling himself for something before speaking.

"When I say Laura is sheltered, I really mean it. She hasn't had much contact with other kids, and the only adults she hangs around are…" he doesn't say the word, but _Pack_ keeps floating on the air between them, and Stiles nods, understanding.

"Don't worry about it. Kids always have a hard time adjusting to school, especially the ones who are used to stay at home, but give her a few weeks, and she'll be in love with everything here."

Derek nods and gets up at last, looking firmly at Stiles before offering his hand. Stiles shakes it and he leaves.

The teacher keeps staring at the door for a good five minutes before sighing and shaking his head.

He didn't expect Derek to be civil, or to be okay with him teaching his kid. Well, he'd have to get used to it.

**X**

"Derek Hale has a kid."

Lydia blinks when she hears that. She's called Stiles to ask him how he'd feel about coming to Portland to spend the weekend with her and Jackson – she misses him, _Jackson_ misses him -, so she's not expecting that announcement.

"What did you just say?"

"Derek Hale has a kid. She's three, her name is Laura, and I'll start teaching her tomorrow."

Well, she was sure not expecting that.

"Oh, Stiles, what are you going to do?"

"Nothing? I mean, it's just a kid, and I'm a professional. He says she's sheltered, and at the parent-teacher meeting today, he was completely civil towards me. So I think that whatever happened in all these years, he's at least not crazy with mad Alpha power anymore."

"Still, you weren't expecting that, were you? How did we _not_ know he has a kid? That's Beacon Hills, everyone knows everything" she says, truly baffled.

"He says she's sheltered, and I mean, werewolves are territorial" she huffs a small laugh at that, and can almost _see_ Stiles smiling on the other side of the line, "Maybe he didn't take her anywhere. My dad didn't say anything, and I know he'd have said something if he knew."

"True," she's quiet for a moment, plans already altering in her head, "Listen, you take care with that crowd, okay? As far as we know, wherever they go, trouble follows, and we don't need that."

"Yeah, I know. I'm just… I don't even know what I am. Scott and Allison's kid? That I might be prepared for, but _Derek_? How did he reproduce? Who's this woman? Because there _has_ to be a woman somewhere. He's a single parent."

Lydia closes her eyes in despair of a kid raised single handedly by Derek Hale and his amazing people skills.

"At least she must be pretty." She hears Stiles laughing again, and smiles, even though he can't see her, "Look, we're going to Beacon Hills this weekend, save some time for us, okay? We have to talk."

"Anything serious?"

"Not really, just, you know, catching up" she goes silent for a bit, "We miss you."

Lydia hears her best friend sighing, and she knows he understands she's not all warm and fuzzy, but she loves him.

"I miss you guys too. My schedule will be completely free for you."

"It better be" she announces before saying her goodbyes, and hanging up.

She's still staring at the phone, without really seeing it, when Jackson gets home, ten minutes later.

"I think it's time we go back" she says simply, turning around to look at her fiancé, and he looks at her for a long moment, before nodding.

"I think so too."

She's not very sure about how that happened, but they are, well, she hates the word, but whatever, they are a _pack_. She and Stiles, and Danny and Jackson, they are family. They spent so long together they don't know how to _be_ without the other, and losing Danny and then Stiles moving away – that was wrecking Jackson, because he felt the loss of his friends more than she did. Not that he loved them more, but because for him it was more than missing a friend, it was instinct to protect and defend his loved ones.

Losing Danny, his very best friend since they were in diapers, it had almost killed him. He hadn't gone mad with the pain because he knew he had to keep it together for Stiles more than for himself. He tried to be there, and support him, and he had done an amazing job at it, even better the she did. He understood Stiles' loss in a way she couldn't, and she didn't try to analyze it too much. Jackson simply got Stiles, even if, strictly speaking, they had always worked in a _Danny-is-my-best-friend-and-Stiles-is-yours_ between her and Jackson.

Now, she knew Jackson was craving the rest of his small pack with no Alpha. They didn't have a power hierarchy, and nothing she and Stiles had found out about werewolves said much about a lone wolf, with a pack made up entirely of humans, where he wasn't the Alpha, and yet, Jackson wasn't it.

If anyone had power over the others it was her, maybe Stiles, when he got really focused on something, but there was no hierarchy established. And yet, with every full moon, Jackson's wolf grew more and more uncomfortable with the fact that one of his pack was far.

They had talked about moving back for a while now – they had actually started as soon as Stiles decided to go back. They had tried to give him space, maybe their presence near him would be too constant a reminder of the loss of the love of his life, but that was clearly not the case. He missed them, and they missed him, and going back to Beacon Hills had always been their end game, anyway.

So maybe the fact that Stiles would have to be near Derek Hale again was the straw that broke the camel's back, but it wasn't like they weren't planning it anyway.

**X**

His dad calls him, telling him to come over for dinner, as a celebration of the beginning of the school year, and Stiles says he'll be there.

He'll be there and demanding answers.

"So…" he begins, once he, Vanessa and his dad are sitting in the dining room, eating veggie-lasagna, "I met with Derek Hale today."

His dad looks at him worriedly, while Vanessa simply looks confused – his dad clearly hasn't talked to her about their dark months, when all Stiles did was lie.

"Why?" the Sheriff ends up asking, still staring at him.

"Why didn't you tell me he had a kid?"

The Sheriff looks like a deer caught in the headlights.

"Would you believe me if I said I completely forgot about it?"

"Well, she's my student" Stiles says accusingly, and John closes his eyes, sighing.

"I completely forgot about the kid. He apparently had this affair with this girl a few years back. She got pregnant, we know she gave birth, and then we didn't see her anymore. I guess Derek is taking care of the kid by himself" he looks at Stiles apologetically, "I know you don't like talking about him, or any of the others, and they are still are tight as they were when you were in High School. I just never caught any wind of anything that might interfere with your life, and it slipped my mind."

Stiles sighs, deflated.

"Well, it's okay. He showed up at the meeting today, she starts school for the first time tomorrow. It was just a shock, that's all."

They go back to dinner and don't talk about Derek or his kid anymore.

The next day, Stiles is as ready as he'll ever be to start teaching his new kids. Parents come to his door, say their goodbyes to their kids and leave with large smiles. He has a special first day activity planned for them, nothing too tiring so that the kids can get used to school before diving in in learning, and he's as excited as the kids are.

The couple who asked to talk to him privately is the first one to arrive – their kid has never been to a daycare, but they both work now, and none can stay to acclimatize their kid – that's what was worrying them. Stiles has assured them he can handle it, it'd be easier if they were around, but he can deal with that.

Unsurprisingly, Derek is the very last one to bring his kid, and both of them look so reluctant to part it actually makes Stiles smile. He looks at the rest of his class, talking and playing with the toys available in the room, before going to the door to greet the newcomers.

"Hey, mister Hale. This must be Laura" he says, and can feel Derek stare at him with an eyebrow raised at the 'mister Hale' thing, but he swore to himself he'd be completely professional with this guy, even more than he usually is.

Laura is a beauty, that much is clear. Her skin is darker than Derek's, and she has his amazing eyes, the green-gray kind of color that it's impossible to determine. Her hair is long enough that it reaches the middle of her back, and it's brushed simply, with no hair clips or anything, curling slightly at the tips – it's also as black as Derek's, and her beautiful eyes gaze at him mistrustfully.

"Come on, Laura, say hi to your teacher" Derek tries to coax her, but she only hides further in his neck.

"You know, there are a lot of kids here for you to play with, Laura. And your dad will be right here, outside this door if you want him" Stiles says persuasively. At that, Laura raises her head a little and looks at him.

"Why daddy can't come inside?" she whispers, and her voice is soft and so very afraid Stiles just wants to hug her forever. He smiles at her.

"Because only the cool kids can come inside this room" he whispers to her, and she looks offended.

"Daddy is cool" she says fiercely and Stiles laughs again.

"Yes, but he isn't a kid" he argues, and she looks at him, raising her head a little higher.

"You're not a kid" she says back, and Stiles smiles broadly. Just as gruffy as her dad.

"No, but I'm the teacher, which is almost the same thing" he says to her, and she finally sighs, looking at her dad again.

"Right here?" she asks, and Derek nods solemnly, making Stiles realize, at the way Derek's hands grip her a little tighter, that he's just scared as she is about leaving her there.

"Right here" he answers and puts her down, kissing her cheek and making her giggle with his stubble.

Stiles has to wonder how can the man spend ten years without learning how to shave properly.

Laura stares at him, and he offers her his hand to get into the classroom, but she doesn't take it, eyeing it distrustfully.

Okay, then.

The first day of pre-school is half a day, and there's not much learning going on – mostly games and stories and songs, because the kids are so small, and also because most of them are too scared of being left alone, without their parents.

Stiles' helper is a nineteen year old girl, who smiles a lot and is great at telling stories, with light blond hair and a friendly face, her name is Emily.

Laura stares at her for half a second before changing directions from where she was walking to, the corner with all the dolls in it, and goes straight to a corner with no kids. She picks up a small book and sits on a cushion, but she keeps staring at the dolls forlornly.

This goes on for about ten minutes, when Stiles keeps looking and monitoring a few of the kids playing around, but keeping an eye on Laura, when her eyes fill up with tears.

His heart breaks a bit, because she looks so miserable, so he goes to where a few girls and boys are playing and picks up a doll, carrying it to where Laura is.

"Hey" he says, smiling and crouching in front of her. She doesn't answer him, "I thought this one looked a bit lonely there, do you think you could keep her company?"

She doesn't say anything but takes the doll, her eyes trained on him rather than on the doll, as if he's going to snatch it away any second.

Okay, this is just not right at all.

Once the doll is safe in her arms, Laura turns to look at it, smiling a little, and ignoring him.

Stiles lets his class play for another fifteen minutes before telling them to gather the toys on the carpet and take their seats with Emily's help. There are nine children this year, and their desks are arranged in groups of three. Laura is on the desk closest to his, near a smiling brunet girl and a talkative blond boy, who are talking to each other about something. She sits quietly, and Stiles explains what he wants them to do, just a small coloring work, so he can gather what they can do – their motor skills development and sense of space, mostly.

The kids are not quiet, but they do their work. About five minutes in the activity, when Stiles is making rounds, and telling the children their work is beautiful, even if some are having a bit of trouble with holding the crayons still, he hears a sentence that he's heard a thousand times before, but it always makes him sigh and think about how can small kids be so cruel.

"Your work is ugly."

It's the brunet girl, Kate, saying it to the blond boy beside her.

"Is not" he says in answer, and thus a shouting match begins.

While he and Emily try to calm the children down, he sees Laura's eyes widen, and she closes them soon after, pressing her small hands to her ears.

When they finally stop shouting, and are apologizing to each other, Laura looks at Stiles, her green eyes full of tears.

"I want my daddy" she whispers, and at that precise moment, Derek knocks on the door and opens it, without waiting. Stiles looks at Emily, and she says she can handle the kids. Stiles looks at Laura, but she's already running to her dad. He picks up her small backpack and leaves the classroom.

"Hey, Laura, you okay now, sweetie?" he asks carefully. She raises her head from her dad's neck and nods at him, "Okay, are you sure you don't want to stay a bit more? We are going to play a bit more later on" she shakes her head fast, and he smiles again, "Okay, then. See you tomorrow, alright?"

She stares at him a bit and manages a small smile.

"Thanks for the doll" she whispers, and Stiles reaches out, ruffling her hair a bit, making her giggle.

"Anytime" he answers and then sobers up, nodding at Derek and going back to his class.

He teaches his class and he goes home thinking about the children and the kind of trouble he'll find this year. Kate criticizes everyone's work, and Edward is way too quiet for a three year old boy. There are a lot of small things he'll have to change in his lesson plans for it to work with this class, and he tries to focus on that, but truth is he spends most of his night thinking about Laura's panicked face when the kids started arguing.

The rest of the week follows the same pattern, but Laura is staying a bit more with every passing day, and on Friday she made it through almost the whole class. She isn't the only one having a bit of trouble, but she's the only one who refuses to be calmed down by him or Emily even once – it's as if she can feel Derek is right outside the door.

Maybe she can. Stiles never looked up anything about werewolf babies.

Friday comes way to fast, but he's pretty satisfied with his progress – he and Derek haven't exchanged more than the very basic necessary pleasantries at the beginning and end of each of Laura's class and that's it.

Maybe it _will_ work out okay.

Lydia and Jackson text him that they are coming that night and want to have dinner. He sets up a reservation at a nice place in town, goes home for a shower and a change of clothes, and gets to the place way before they do, waiting for a bit. Every single time the door opens he looks up – he hadn't been thinking about it that much, he had been trying to avoid thinking about it, actually, but he missed them both so _much_ that now that he _knew_ they were near it was like a part of him was missing.

Finally, the door opens and Lydia smiles wide seeing him – he gets up and she walks a little faster, throwing herself into his waiting arms. She's not the most outspoken about her feelings, but she really loves him, he knows that. He squeezes her until she squeaks and says she can't breathe.

"Stop manhandling my fiancé, Stilinski" Jackson says, and Stiles lets Lydia go, just to be engulfed in a bear hug – wolf hug, maybe? – by Jackson, who picks him up the floor, before putting him back on his feet.

"Hey, not fair!" he exclaims, smiling still.

They sit and the waiter comes by to ask for their drink orders.

As he's leaving, promising to bring back their drinks, Jackson tilts his head to the side, as if he's listening to something they can't, or maybe sniffing something. They've seen him doing this plenty of times before.

"What is it?" Stiles whispers, the door of the restaurant at their back opening and closing.

Jackson looks around and shrugs.

"Nothing, I guess" he answers, shrugging it off.

"We have to talk" says Lydia, and Stiles eyes them with trepidation.

Those are never good words coming from Lydia.

**X**

Derek can't remember a time when he worried so much about something.

Sure, he had been in life and death situations before, but then it had been _his_ life on the line, and he could _do_ something about it. As time passed, he had learned to trust his pack, and he was happy he could do it – they had never left him down when he really needed them.

In a weird way, when Scott made sure Stiles hated them all, he had brought them closer. Losing someone is a sure way to make people see they can trust the ones they have left.

But Laura is in that classroom alone, with a bunch of kids she doesn't know, and she sounds so miserable, and he can pick up her heartbeat, fast and scared, and he's quite sure he will just get in, snatch his kid and home school her forever.

That first day passes in a blur of him focusing on her heartbeat and voice and a litany of 'just five more minutes' to control his impulse of going in.

When he hears her say she wants to go home, he can't help it and opens the door, picking her up. He's so relieved she's fine, he almost misses the fact that she has _smiled_ at Stiles.

Okay then.

As the week goes by, he starts to relax a bit more. She's still quiet in the classroom, but she talks plenty about it at home, and she really likes her teacher, calling him _Mister Styls_. The other kids call him the same thing.

She can't stand the girl who helps him, though – Laura, Derek notices, doesn't trust females. The only exception is Melissa, and the helper is as far as one can get from Mrs. McCall.

Friday night is the day when everyone comes over for dinner, and as no one actually likes to cook, he usually orders to go at some place in town.

Of _course_ that on that Friday he'd order at the place where Jackson, Lydia and Stiles are having dinner. He's at the back, waiting, and is a bit worried that Stiles will see him there, but the man doesn't seem to notice him, eyeing the door, making him wonder who's he waiting for.

And then in they come, the rest of his pack, Lydia throwing herself at him, and he's _smiling_ as if he's coming home at last. Jackson picking him up and breathing him in – Derek can _sense_ the wolf in the other man calming down, realizing his pack is okay, they're fine.

It makes something inside him twist – sure, his pack is close, but they are all… _them_. Him, with his great communication skills, and Scott with his uncertainty and heartbreak, and Boyd who is so quiet you can forget he's there until you need him, and Isaac with his history of abuse who doesn't really like to touch or be touched by anyone. The only one they actually open up for is Laura – but among them there's not much physical contact going on, not while they are human. Running during the full moon, their wolves stick close to each other, but for the rest of the month they aren't really… into contact.

But that right there, the way they sit so close to each other the waiter will have trouble putting their plates when their food come, the way Jackson is smiling, that Lydia is looking Stiles over, that's something his pack doesn't have, this closeness.

His food finally arrives, and he grabs the bags, heading for the door fast.

There's no way in _hell_ Jackson didn't get his scent, but he doesn't stop and doesn't look back.

Stiles is Laura's teacher, but that's it. By Monday Jackson and Lydia will have left, and everything will go back to normal.

* * *

**And another one!**

**Wonder how Derek will react when he hears Jackson is coming back to town.**

**Hehehehehe**

**Let me know what you think!**

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